I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion lately about succession planning in law firms and what happens as more senior partners retire. Most of the conversation focuses on who will take over leadership positions, inherit client relationships and step into management roles. Those are important questions, but I think there’s another issue that deserves a lot more attention. Are firms doing enough to help the next generation become known before those transitions happen?

I’ve worked with lawyers for years who are incredibly talented, highly respected by their clients and doing outstanding work. The problem isn’t their ability. The problem is that very few people outside their immediate circle know who they are.

Then years later, a firm wants that lawyer to take over a major client relationship, become the face of a practice or step into a leadership role and everyone wonders why the transition feels challenging. In many cases, the relationship building should have started much earlier.

One of the biggest mistakes I see is firms treating business development, networking and personal branding as activities that happen later in a lawyer’s career. Associates are told to focus on the work. Junior partners are focused on execution and billable hours. Before they know it, ten or fifteen years have passed and they’re being asked to take on larger client-facing responsibilities without having had many opportunities to build their own visibility.

The reality is that clients don’t automatically transfer trust from one lawyer to another. A client may have worked with a senior partner for ten, fifteen or twenty years. They’ve developed confidence in that person’s judgment. They’ve built a relationship. They’ve spent years picking up the phone and getting answers from someone they know well. Replacing that relationship isn’t as simple as sending an email announcing that another lawyer will now be handling the work.

Clients want familiarity. They want confidence. They want to feel like they already know the person who will be advising them. That’s why succession planning should start long before a retirement announcement.

The lawyers who are eventually expected to inherit those relationships should already be attending client meetings, participating in pitches, speaking on webinars, attending industry conferences and contributing to thought leadership efforts. Clients should have multiple opportunities to interact with them over time.

The same concept applies inside the firm. Many leadership opportunities go to lawyers who have built strong relationships across offices, practice groups and industries. People are naturally more likely to think of someone when they’ve seen that person contribute ideas, lead initiatives, collaborate with colleagues and represent the firm externally.

This is one reason I’m such a strong believer that firms should invest in helping lawyers build their professional brands much earlier in their careers.

Encouraging lawyers to participate in these activities helps clients, colleagues, referral sources and industry contacts become familiar with the people who will eventually take on larger responsibilities within the firm.

One of the reasons client transitions can be difficult is that many clients have spent years, and sometimes decades, working with the same lawyer. They trust that person’s judgment. They know how that person thinks. They know how that person communicates. That level of trust develops gradually and is reinforced through consistent interactions over time.

When lawyers write articles, speak at conferences, participate in webinars, attend industry events and become more involved in client-facing activities, they create additional opportunities for people to get to know them. A client may read an article they wrote, hear them speak on a panel, attend a webinar they presented or work with them on a matter over several years. Each interaction contributes to familiarity and confidence. Over time, that lawyer becomes someone the client already knows rather than someone they are meeting for the first time because a partner is retiring.

The same principle applies inside the firm. Lawyers who contribute ideas, participate in firm initiatives, collaborate across offices and become active within the broader legal and business community often develop stronger internal networks. When leadership opportunities arise, more people understand their experience, their strengths and the value they bring to the organization.

Many law firms are focused on who will replace retiring partners. The more important question may be whether clients, colleagues and referral sources already know those lawyers.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve met lawyers who are doing interesting work but have almost no visibility outside the matters they’re handling every day. Meanwhile, other lawyers with similar experience become known throughout their industries because they’ve spent years participating in conversations, building relationships and sharing what they know. When leadership transitions happen, those differences matter. When client relationships are transferred, those differences matter.

When firms are deciding who should lead a practice, open a new office, manage a key client relationship or represent the firm in the marketplace, those differences matter. Excellent legal work will always be the foundation of a successful legal career. But law firms are businesses, and relationships play an enormous role in how opportunities are created and how decisions are made.

The firms that are thinking strategically about succession planning aren’t just identifying future leaders. They’re helping those future leaders build relationships, develop credibility and become known long before they’re asked to step into bigger roles.

And for individual lawyers, there’s an important lesson here too. Don’t wait until you’re being considered for leadership to start building your reputation. Don’t wait until a major client transition is underway to begin developing relationships. Don’t wait until you’re up for partner to become active in your industry.

Law firms are spending a lot of time discussing who will replace retiring partners. That’s an important conversation. But identifying the next generation of leaders is only part of the equation.

Clients are much more likely to embrace a transition when they’ve already built relationships with the lawyers stepping into those roles. Colleagues are more likely to support future leaders when they’ve worked alongside them and understand what they bring to the table. Referral sources are more likely to think of someone they’ve seen, heard from and interacted with over time.

Succession planning doesn’t begin when a retirement date is announced. In many ways, it begins years earlier when firms start creating opportunities for younger lawyers to build relationships, establish credibility and become known to the people who matter most.

Key Takeaways

  • Succession planning is about more than identifying who will take over a leadership role or client relationship. Firms also need to help future leaders build visibility, credibility and relationships long before a transition becomes necessary.
  • Clients are far more likely to embrace a transition when they already know and trust the lawyer stepping into a larger role. Successful client transitions often begin years before a retirement announcement.
  • Many talented lawyers remain largely invisible outside the matters they handle every day. Strong legal skills are essential, but visibility helps create opportunities for leadership, business development and client relationship growth.
  • Firms should involve younger lawyers in client meetings, speaking engagements, industry organizations, webinars, writing opportunities and other activities that help them become known inside and outside the firm.
  • Relationship building, business development and professional reputation development should not begin once someone becomes a partner. These efforts are most effective when they start much earlier in a lawyer’s career.
  • The firms that handle succession planning most successfully are often the ones that invest in developing future leaders years before those leaders are expected to take over key client relationships or leadership positions.

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